Between A Rock And A Hard Place......

With only one spot available in the garden shed (not heated, it does get humid), it means that this year I have to choose...

Do I put redslut in the shed or the puma?

For the other space is outside under a cover....

Our winters get cold and wet...

So what would you advise on prepping the "outside" bike?

Take out the battery and top up the fuel tank for sure, but remove as much plastic as possible or leave that on?

Spray all metal parts with WD40? Or what?

I'm leaning toward the VF in shed.....

Instead of WD40 you can use ACF50, expensive but is said to work very well.

Or http://www.motor-winterstalling.nl/Prijslijst.html

Hi Dutchy

My opinion would be to leave the 750 outside, as per my experience they can take the elements better than the older bikes(my 750 stood outside for a year & 8 months), & all I needed to do was clean out the carbs, charge the battery & put some fresh fuel in her & she started up pretty much first time.

As for your plastics, if you have the bike under a cover protecting the bike from direct sun light, there is no reason to take the plastics off, on the hand if it stands in direct sun light rather take them off to prevent them from fading.

As for other preparations I would suggest emptying out the carbs as they can get sludgy if they stand with fuel in them for a couple months, & I would only fill the tank half way. The fumes inside the tank prevent it from rusting.

As for the metal parts WD40 won’t last all winter, I would suggest you rather use a Dry Moly spray(I work in the oil industry & we use it on a lot of our tools that stand in the weather).

I would also try & put old tires on the bike as the rubber can become brittle while standing outside for long periods. What you can also do is spray some WD40 or something similar on all you electrical connections to prevent them from cording over the winter. But the best practice is to start up the girl once every two or three weeks & let the bike get warmed up.

VFRBeast But the best practice is to start up the girl once every two or three weeks & let the bike get warmed up.

I've heard that it's better NOT to start the bike regularly over the winter.

Firing it up and letting things warm up can cause condensation in things like the exhaust, which will create more issues than leaving it sit over the winter.

Fresh oil, tank full of stabilized fuel, spray WD40 into exhaust pipe, seal exhaust and air box intake with saran wrap or similar to keep critters out and place bounce sheets (fabric softener) in various strategic areas to discourage critters as well. They like to chew wires and nest in the most inappropriate nooks and crannys.

If you want to go a step further, fill the crank case to the top with cheap oil, squirt a tad of oil in each cylinder, keep the tires off of the ground somehow.

Not sure if you have ever seen these Speedway Shelters Dutchy. They are the best next thing to a garage.

http://www.speedwayshelters.com/

We have quite a few rental storage places in the USA, I doubt that you have many of those over there!

https://www.vac-bag.co.uk/motorcycle-vac-bag-jumbo.html

What about a vacuum dry storage bag?

Also for metal protectanat read this: http://www.dayattherange.com/?page_id=3667

Matt

deltaboxii

Not sure if you have ever seen these Speedway Shelters Dutchy. They are the best next thing to a garage.

http://www.speedwayshelters.com/

We have quite a few rental storage places in the USA, I doubt that you have many of those over there!

I live in an apartment and have to leave my girl outside year round...

I have one of these though and it has been the best investment i could have made for the bike:

http://www.cycleshell.com/

I have seen these here in NL, very pricey but it would not fit in the front garden.

Storage boxes are in the region but around $70 a month. Dedicated car/mc storage $200 for 6mths.

I could see spending $200 over 6 months on my mistress . . . :goofy:

I've never used it, but some people swear by Krown for long term storage.

https://www.krown.com/products/aerosol-products/salt-eliminator/

[image: m-unknown-14.jpeg]

HughJebolzak

VFRBeast But the best practice is to start up the girl once every two or three weeks & let the bike get warmed up.

I've heard that it's better NOT to start the bike regularly over the winter.

Firing it up and letting things warm up can cause condensation in things like the exhaust, which will create more issues than leaving it sit over the winter.

Fresh oil, tank full of stabilized fuel, spray WD40 into exhaust pipe, seal exhaust and air box intake with saran wrap or similar to keep critters out and place bounce sheets (fabric softener) in various strategic areas to discourage critters as well. They like to chew wires and nest in the most inappropriate nooks and crannys.

If you want to go a step further, fill the crank case to the top with cheap oil, squirt a tad of oil in each cylinder, keep the tires off of the ground somehow.

Yes, starting the bike over the winter is counter-productive. It adds contaminants to the clean oil you just added. It adds moisture to the oil and cylinder. It would take a relatively long time at idle to warm up the entire system as though you had ridden it for 15 minutes, especially in the cold ambient temperature. I agree with cover it, cap it, and leave it.

Recently I was getting some plugs for yard equipment at a local shop where the owner repairs all kinds of engines. I asked him about the advice in just about every engine manual about injecting oil into the cylinder for winter storage. He said for one season this is not necessary. However this is a good procedure if the storage is a year or longer. It takes a while for significant moisture to build up and begin to cause rust, especially since the cylinder already has a coating of oil and gas.

Those of you have oiled your motorcycle cylinders, what is your procedure for starting the bike. Do you burn the oil off? Do you turn the crank and release the oil out of the plug hole? I am just curious as I have not read the "after" advice in any manual and am wondering if the plug would recover from such fouling.

Do you have a spare bedroom? I'm sure one of the bikes can sleep in there for the winter. = )

My suggestion would be:

Wash and wax, oil chain, wipe down unpainted/unprotected metal with light oil (wd40), protectant on plastic, vinyl and rubber (not tire contact patch :))

Top tank and use fuel conditioner

Run bike with fuel conditioner till conditioned fuel is in carbs; disconnect tank and run carbs dry

Top off brake fluid (another place for condensation)

A couple of asides:

If you have e-gas, I'd suggest getting straight gas to fill the tank; it may not be an issue in the Netherregions, but the US is cursed with the stuff.

You can always split the time between the bikes under the shed (halves the time they are exposed), but I would agree that the older bike would benefit more from better protection

Knight

Those of you have oiled your motorcycle cylinders, what is your procedure for starting the bike. Do you burn the oil off? Do you turn the crank and release the oil out of the plug hole? I am just curious as I have not read the "after" advice in any manual and am wondering if the plug would recover from such fouling.

I've never put regular motor oil into the cylinders, always an engine fogger. They can be found at most small hardware stores or anywhere that sells marine outboard engines. Just start it up in the spring. There may be a little more smoke for the first 5-10 sec.

[image: FOG.jpg]

I think it would be going in the house somewhere for the winter if it was mine. You could sit on it while watching MotoGP races.

Use petroleum jelly spray from valvoline to protect all metal parts, putt fuel stabiliser in a full tank and remove the battery. After the winter clean youre bike from the petroleum jelly and putt the battery back in. Press the start button and go !!

Start it and go for a good length ride at least once every week or 2.

If snow prevents this, move. Worked for me at least.

VFR4Lee

Start it and go for a good length ride at least once every week or 2.

If snow prevents this, move. Worked for me at least.

:1: :tour: :tour: :tour: :bliss:

V4 Rosso

Instead of WD40 you can use ACF50, expensive but is said to work very well.

Or http://www.motor-winterstalling.nl/Prijslijst.html

Great stuff, buy the litre bottle. Will last you years.

http://www.acf-50.co.uk/motorcycle.htm

Geez I'm glad I live in Australia.

If you use only a teaspoon of oil, no problem on startup and often no smoke at all and no plug fouling.

Update:

found a secure, heated storage facility only a few clicks from my house. 100 euro for 6 months.

decided to park redslut there and keep puma in the garden shed so I can fondle her to my heart's content.....

Perfect solution. Question is: will the puma keep you happy or will you have to pay visits to you usual redslut to find Nirvana? ....

I guess within a few clicks is perfect, the puma will never know!

C

100 E for 6 months is a steal. My low budget idea was a cheap dome tent with a sheet of plywood in the floor....

Separation of table and bed is the end..............

Dutchy

Update:

found a secure, heated storage facility only a few clicks from my house. 100 euro for 6 months.

decided to park redslut there and keep puma in the garden shed so I can fondle her to my heart's content.....

To quote mailman "that is a steal". Over here min of £60 a month. Was that private or business/commercial?

Well, filed puma up with ethanol-free 102 octane juice for her winter stay

[image: PB089731.jpg]

So you have doubled the value of puma in an instance. :goofy:

It is not a LADA Bert........

Redslut's wintersleep address:

[image: _mg_4850_1024.jpg]

Do you know why a Lada has exellent rear window heating ?

^ :laughing6-hehe:

Not sure if you have ever seen these Speedway Shelters Dutchy.  They are the best next thing to a garage.

http://www.speedwayshelters.com/

We have quite a few rental storage places in the USA, I doubt that you have many of those over there!

I wouldn't use that speedwayshelter after watching the video. The bike got covered and when the cover was raised the bike was gone!

Yeah they sell them over here too but very pricey, won't fit in my front garden anyway, my wife will not approve, and moisture will still get to the bike  :goofy:

That Telefix "Motoboy" carries redslut no problem.

[image: HPIM5474.jpg]

With only one spot available in the garden shed (not heated, it does get humid), it means that this year I have to choose...

Do I put redslut in the shed or the puma?

For the other space is outside under a cover....

Our winters get cold and wet...

So what would you advise on prepping the "outside" bike?

Take out the battery and top up the fuel tank for sure, but remove as much plastic as possible or leave that on?

Spray all metal parts with WD40? Or what?

I'm leaning toward the VF in shed.....

Dutchy, depends if you intend to use them in the winter. If not used, then remove all fuel, give deep clean & use some preservative spray & then vac-bag it. No moisture, no rust !